It's to the best of our knowledge. I'm Anne Strangeamps.

Have you ever dreamed of quitting your 9 to 5 and becoming a writer?

Spending your days working on that novel that's going to make you an overnight literary star seems like a pretty sweet life.

My early creative writing teachers told me, don't ever expect to make a living doing this.

Meet Laura Vandenberg, as she's having the kind of success writers dream of. Her last short story

collection showed up on tons of best of the year lists, and her first novel comes out later this

month. Already, it's one of the most anticipated books of the year. But all this hasn't been

easy. Oftentimes it's been a sort of stitched together kind of thing where, you know,

you're pulling from teaching and then some miscellaneous things, like perhaps a freelance

editing project, and you're getting some income from writing and all together makes, you know,

one's life sustainable.

So this is from a writer who's living the dream.

She's actually making a living as a literary star.

But job security and long-term financial stability are still elusive.

And when she's freelancing or teaching, she says it's hard to find time to write.

I would work on the commuter rail train. I would work in my office at school, she says it's hard to find time to write. I would work on the commuter

rail train. I would work in my office at school. Just whatever it took to get that hour in,

I was ready to do it. I worked on the book on and off for six years. And if you were to ask me,

well, what was happening in the off part? A lot of it was just simply the business of living, being sort of overwhelmed with tasks, not having

enough time to write, not being able to get in the right headspace, etc. These days, Laura Vandenberg

is at Bard College, working on a semester-long fellowship. She has the freedom to focus on her

writing, which is great, for now. But what happens when it's over? I'm not necessarily looking for the situation that will work

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